Perspectives of Wireless Marketing Wars ? Who will Be the Winner?
According to the research held by analytics company Canalys the market of ?smart? mobile devices in Europe, Near East and Africa grows more rapidly than market of mobile phones. Within the first half of 2005 9.6 million of smartphones and PDAs were sold compared to 3.6 million during the same period of the previous year. Such trend is observed worldwide ? almost 70 million full feature handsets are sold worldwide. According to analysts the two main processes in progress stipulate such growth at the moment. On the one hand, ordinary users interchange their old smartphones and PDAs to newer ones. On the other hand, there is an upsurge in interest in mobile E-mail and extended abilities of smart mobile devices from companies and corporations.
Modern smart mobile systems are to be: always available (small sized / handy), always On (optimized memory usage, minimal battery use), extensible (new software can be added if necessary), affordable, and of various form factors. Moreover, a smart mobile device should combine the maximum of mobile technologies available at the moment: GPS, VoIP, Bluetooth, IrDa, GPRS/EDGE, Wi-Fi, mobile E-mail, support of HTTP protocol, MP3 etc. This is a vast domain for competition among manufacturers of operation systems for smartphones and PDAs.
There are several very large players in this market: Symbian OS, BREW OS, Blackberry OS, Windows Mobile OS and Palm OS etc.
Experts? Area
Ulf Morys, General Manager at Gameloft GmbH:
- Symbian: more important in the future, but still niche market (Nokia market share ca. 33 % overall; not more than 1/3 of this Symbian phones & some other Symbian phones). Overall optimistic estimate: ca. 10 % of total newly sold phone base.
- BlackBerry: interesting for business / productivity applications; no mass market.
- WindowsCE: difficult to judge. Microsoft will keep pushing it?s platform, but results were often unsatisfactory in the past; make sure that the partners can actually bill for applications delivered to this platform. We?ve seen problems with this.
- BREW: real mass market potential in US and Chinese market, not very relevant for European market.?
SYMBIAN
SYMBIAN ? is a software licensing company that develops and supplies the advanced, open, standard operating system ? Symbian OS ? for data-enabled mobile phones and PDAs.
As of September 2005 60 phones that run under Symbian OS from eight manufacturers are shipped worldwide and a further 56 phones from eleven manufacturers (among them Fujitsu, Mitsubishi, Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, BenQ and Motorola) were in development. Symbian OS is an undisputed sales leader in Europe and has a strong market share in other countries. Currently Symbian?s market share is 55.9 per cent from worldwide sales (according to IDC analytics company), at that 82 per cent of devices were manufactured by Nokia (in whole since 2005 beginning there were sold approximately 34 million data enabled devices with Symbian OS on board).
Experts? Area
Philip Solis, ABI Research senior analyst, author of the study ?Smartphones: The Market for Smartphones and Smartphone Operating Systems?:
?Symbian?s chief advantages are that it is easy to build applications for, and that it has a large developer community. Disadvantages are that Symbian is primarily limited to Nokia handsets, and its market is concentrated in ?GSM-heavy? regions.?
19 of 60 devices with Symbian OS support WCDMA. By the way, smartphone Nokia 6680 is recognized a 3G world bestseller telephone.
Key features of Symbian OS
Rich suite of application engines ? the suite includes engines for contacts, schedule, messaging, browsing, utility and system control; OBEX for exchanging objects such as appointments (using vCalendar) and business cards (vCard); integrated APIs for data management, text, clipboard and graphics
Browsing ? supports WAP 1.2.1 for mobile browsing
Messaging ? multimedia messaging (MMS), enhanced messaging (EMS) and SMS; internet mail using POP3, IMAP4, SMTP and MHTML; attachments; fax
Multimedia ? audio and video support for recording, playback and streaming; image conversion
Graphics ? direct access to screen and keyboard for high performance; graphics accelerator API
Communications protocols ? wide-area networking stacks including TCP/IP (dual mode IPv4/v6) and WAP, personal area networking support include infrared (IrDA), Bluetooth? wireless technology and USB; support is also provided for multihoming capabilities and link layer
Quality-of-Service (QoS) on GPRS/UMTS networks
Mobile telephony ? Symbian OS is ready for the 3G market with support for GSM circuit switched voice and data (CSD and EDGE ECSD) and packet-based data (GPRS and EDGE EGPRS); CDMA circuit switched voice, data and packet-based data (IS-95, cdma2000 1x, and WCDMA); SIM, RUIM and UICC Toolkit; other standards can be implemented by licensees through extensible APIs of the telephony subsystem
International support ? conforms to Unicode Standard version 3.0
Data synchronization ? over-the-air (OTA) synchronization support using SyncML; PC-based synchronization over serial, Bluetooth? wireless technology, Infrared and USB; a PC Connectivity framework providing the ability to transfer files and synchronize PIM data
Security ? full encryption and certificate management, secure protocols (HTTPS, WTLS and SSL and TLS), WIM framework and certificate-based application installation
Developing for Symbian OS ? content development options include: C++, Java
(J2ME) MIDP 2.0 and PersonalJava 1.1.1a (with JavaPhone 1.0 option), and WAP; tools are available for building C++ and Java applications and ROMs with support for on-target debugging
User Inputs ? generic input mechanism supporting full keyboard, 0-9*# (numeric mobile phone keypad), voice, handwriting recognition and predictive text input.
BREW
BREW - Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless is a combination OS, application platform, and marketing system. BREW started with QUALCOMM-based CDMA chipsets and technology ? a vast market ? but BREW is independent of the wireless technology utilized by a particular handset or network and can support other wireless technologies. Ideally, BREW can work with any device, and Qualcomm is planning to port it to Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). Qualcomm is trying to remove the gap between GSM and CDMA operators. As CDMA strengthened hand, the GSM lobby propped its own version of CDMA which they named WCDMA (Wideband CDMA). WCDMA has been launched in a group of countries (80 operators in 29 countries), and many more are gearing to launch it within this year, it is already successfully running in countries like Korea, Japan, China, India, Brazil and in some parts of North America.
So far prevalent in the CDMA domain, BREW is gradually transiting to the GSM bastion of Europe as the continent’s operators introduce 3G services based on WCDMA (by the end of year 2005 the number of WCDMA networks users worldwide increased by 2,6 times compared to December 31, 2004 and reached 43,81 million users). Such a scenario could make Qualcomm a worldwide flag carrier in mobile market. In all, 40 commercial BREW device manufacturers (Audiovox, Kyocera, LG, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, BenQ etc.) offer over 135 BREW-enabled devices ? as of January, 2006 according to Qualcomm. Almost 10% of all handsets shipped worldwide are BREW compatible and the number of application downloads (May 2005) exceeds 300 million. The success of BREW has been built on CDMA platforms of major mobile operators, including Verizon Wireless, China Unicom, Telstra and KDDI.
Regardless of platform, BREW requires little memory (150KB), which makes BREW applications workable even on low-end phones.
BREW provides basic capabilities for such advanced services as GPS, VoIP, Bluetooth 1.1, MP3 and MIDI support, video recording and playback, multimedia streaming, e-mail. The set of BREW services includes communication capabilities of TCP/UDP sockets, HTTP protocol support, SMS-MMS services, extended telephony capabilities. BREW supports several programming languages including Java, and via extensions BREW understands C/C++, interactive animation Flash and XML.
The Wall Street Journal paralleled BREW with Microsoft Windows in wireless communication domain.
Experts? Area
Victoria Alexandrova, Project Manager, PDA applications Department of QArea Company: ?Who I see a winner? Symbian, of course. It is convenient, applicable, multi functional and easy for understanding. However, if I were in the USA I definitely would rather use BlackBerry, since they provide top quality service.?
BLACKBERRY
BLACKBERRY ? is a proprietary operating system, provided by RIM (Research in Motion, Canada), for the BlackBerry devices and BlackBerry enabled devices (BlackBerry email is already on a few handsets including Siemens SK65, Nokia 6820/6822, Motorola MPx220). BlackBerry is one of the leading wireless solutions, which allows users to stay connected with wireless access to email, corporate data, phone, web and organizer features. The true power of BlackBerry is mailbox integration. BlackBerry can integrate seamlessly with a user’s existing corporate or personal email account providing a wireless extension of their regular e-mailbox.
The first BlackBerry was released in early 1999. The first BlackBerry with integrated cell phone, as well as the first BlackBerry sold outside of North America was released in 2001, using the European GSM/GPRS standard. RIM at the moment has a very dominant position in the mobile email market. BlackBerry is used worldwide, available from 95 wireless carriers in 40 countries. In November 2004, RIM announced the number of subscribers to the BlackBerry service to have reached two million, having doubled within ten months. Proceeding their steady growth, RIM announced an additional one million subscribers in May 2005, only six months after having reached two million.
Experts? Area
Rudy de Waele, CEO at Random One (R1):
?The market is going more Symbian due to the strategic moves Symbian did with S60 platform, delivering Symbian to various devices of different brand manufacturers and Nokia?s latest partnership with Vodafone to increase the use of S60 as a standard software platform.
Windows Mobile is going to catch up bit by bit, they have the market advantage in US and they can benefit from the Microsoft PC/Mobile synchronization that becomes more and more popular and is a crucial element for the success of mobile data services, but I don?t see them getting quickly at the same level of Symbian on a global level, it?s going to take at least 4-5 years for them to catch-up, if ever they will…
Meanwhile I don?t see a bright future for Palm OS, neither BREW, though BREW is still quite strong in the market due to Qualcomm strength on the market.
Nobody can compete with Symbian as of now, their competitors will have to come up with a stronger OS and that doesn?t look obvious.
At last, don?t forget about Linux who has a lot of potential, specifically in mobile, I see a bright and growing future for them.?
No wonder, RIM manufactures a top notch device (with BlackBerry OS on board) that is secure, stable, and dominates market share with state and local government, the military, and with commercial corporations. In 2005 RIM was the first largest PDA supplier, and their technology BlackBerry occupied the second place among OS manufacturers giving Microsoft product the go-by.
RIM develops its own software for its devices, using C++ and Java technology. Third party developers applications must be digitally signed, that guarantees the application authorship.
Available services are: Wireless Email Service, Wireless Calendar Service, Wireless Internet (HTML and WAP formats) Services, Voice and SMS, Mobile Data Service, Attachment Service, Instant Messenger, GPS Service, Bluetooth etc.
Diagram Year-on-year increment of devices shipments
Note BREW includes CDMA and WCDMA chipsets
The full feature handsets market is hard to predict, however almost all analysts predict steady and increasing growth of this market (which is observed at the moment). Each manufacturer aspires to create a common OS to globalize and standardize application development, distribution and management (as they say) to develop applications for all but not for each distinct device. Some people welcome such opportunity and some are bothered by possible monopolization and subsequent abuses in this domain. What is observed at the moment that each of the manufacturers had occupied a distinct characteristic niche, where he is successful, and already from there with mixed success tries to ?conquer? the mobile wireless world.
Experts? Area
Alexei Golovashov, Senior QA Engineer, QArea Group:
?BlackBerry? One of its main advantages is an advanced ergonomics both of the device itself and its software. The user interface, as of today, I suppose, is one of the best among developed for PDA devices. While its main disadvantage is absence of memory card. Absence of the latter means that it can not be used for other purposes, it is narrow directed. I use my Symbian as MP3 player and to watch movies. I will not be able to use BlackBerry for that even if I want to. BlackBerry is convenient only for business domain, I guess, while Symbian also can be used as a game platform, and its a rather essential part of users who use it that way. BREW, from my point of view, has no bright future at all. J2ME is that well-developed that nobody pays attention to BREW. Furthermore, all BREW applications are to be certified, that complicates their usage and distribution,? - says Alexei Golovashov, QArea’s Senior QA Engineer.
What then
The whole world, and wireless market in particular, moves toward high speeds, multiple functions and extended business possibilities. 3G networks is the next inevitable stage of mobile market development. It provides plenty of capabilities both for business and entertainment, communication and data transfer, Internet access and mobile e-mailing. Most of 3G devices should combine all available 3G technologies to be competitive. This factor will also affect the development of devices and operating systems for them. As we can see, the mobile market requires a device that could fullest reveal the capabilities of next generation mobile networks 3G and 4G. These numbers are dramatic confirmation of 3G leading position: 173 Commercial 3G Operators in 75 Countries worldwide (as of February 02, 2006), over 228 million reported 3G CDMA subscribers (as of November 30, 2005), 826 models of 3G devices worldwide. The industry standard for 3G wireless networks consists of 5 operating modes ? three of them are based on CDMA technology: CDMA2000, WCDMA (UMTS) and TD-SCDMA. In this light BREW OS has a great opportunity to become a leader, though Nokia 6680 under Symbian OS is a 3G world bestseller telephone. The services by 3G carriers are quite actual already ? 80% of British mobile users are ready to pay for mobile TV service, nothing to say about GPS, high-speed packet data access and high quality voice services.
Still large companies, financial giants, transnational corporations and government institutions adhere to the tried technologies ? they use BlackBerry ? undisputed leader in enterprise mobile solutions for mobile professionals and seek no alternative for it. However, if You still want an alternative for You BlackBerry You should be set for paying a pretty penny of some $500 for a new device and a new connection and it is not easy at all to find an equal substitution.
And let us don?t forget that more players like Windows Mobile OS and Linux OS are on their way and hit their stride.
Table Annual global sales gain and market share of each OS
Note BREW OS is not included in the table
OS vendor 2004 % share 2005 % share
Symbian 14,365,850 61.2% 34,000,000 53,27
Linux 6,380,160 27.2% 9,300,000 14,57
Palm Source 1,210,090 5.2% 2,200,000 3,45
Microsoft 1,119,610 4.8% 14,000,000 21,94
RIM 135,180 0.6% 4,000,000 6,27
Others 277,520 1.2% 322,000 0,5
Total 23,488,410 63,822,000
Undoubtedly, there?s still a long way to go: Symbian powered nearly 34 million devices last year, more than double what Microsoft was able to ship, but the gap is narrowing.
Microsoft is preparing their new mobile operating system Crossbow which is to replace Windows Mobile 5.0 launched in May 2005. Crossbow will have both Push Email and built in Internet Pager, thus Crossbow will provoke competition to BlackBerry OS. Microsoft aspires to get over Symbian and BB at a time and we know how this usually results. New product will take time to be tested to make sure it runs smoothly in operator?s networks. After all, will operators agree to update their software and servers for new applications to run properly?
MS provided an adequate tool set for the developers to develop software for their platform. In many ways they are helping to open up software innovation on devices. While developers for Symbian OS quite often complain of its being bad documented and too many OS versions. Microsoft?s long legacy includes an understanding of the Developer and providing Developers tools. Symbian is a newcomer. Still, we shouldn?t forget about the power of open source: Why would a Developer want to restrict themselves into a platform with a proprietary software code? Some experts consider that just the developer support is going to be key in who wins in the consumer market place.
Much also depends on marketing and promotion: Symbian’s operating system is used in many top-end business phones today, because of its support for features such as PIM, voice-conferencing, push email and Web access. Nokia phone stands for world recognized brand and image phone ? and it does pay dividends. To have Nokia?s smartphone is almost the same as to drive Mercedes.
The potential of growing markets should also be considered: the demand for mobile phones in India, China, Eastern Europe and Africa is not a new phenomenon. Just in time enter a growing market and you can lead the race (Industry analysts forecast that 80% of the next billion mobile phone customers will come from emerging markets).
This is a niche market, all around. We say Europe ? we mean Symbian, we say USA ? we mean Windows Mobile, BlackBerry and BREW. BREW ? is limited to CDMA markets (US and Chinese markets), Blackberry ? is closely tied to business and corporate clients, Symbian is prevailing mainly in Europe: it turns out they have nothing to ?brew?. I hope none of them comes to dominate, since that is a recipe for stagnation; the 3 equally balanced would be perfect for fair competition and product development. We can not provide adequate predictions for someone’s success or failure. It will be just a forecast.
All is left is to guess who to place stake on ?
http://www.qarea.com
December 28, 2007
There’s a new route into your company’s secure data. It’s the Blackberry PDA. A hacking program has been developed which exploits the relationship between the Blackberry itself, a company’s internal server and the network connection to which both are attached. The hacking program works because the data tunnel between the Blackberry and the server is encrypted. Intrusions can’t be detected because the protective systems, such as firewalls, exist at the perimeter of the network. This begs the question of all business owners whose employees use a Blackberry: Is your company data secure?
The hacking technique is successful because there are very few companies equipped to detect and intrusion from the inside of the network. Another reason for hacking success is the fact that companies don’t see the Blackberry as a potential attack vector. The Blackberry is not your normal handheld device. It’s a continuously running code machine that’s always on and always connected to your internal network. It has constant direct access to whatever you give it access to and most company structures allow complete access to the internal network for their employees who use Blackberries.
BBProxy is the name of the Blackberry hacking program. It can be loaded on the Blackberry either physically or via e-mail as a Trojan horse. Once loaded, the Blackberry will call back to the hacker’s system and open communication channels between the hacker and the internal network of the company. This process runs in the background behind the safety of the company’s firewall scanning for hosts with vulnerabilities in security and is generally undetected.
Recently, an ad on eBay sold a Blackberry ‘AS IS’ for approximately $15.00. While the device didn’t come with a cable, synching station, software or manual, it did come with something far more valuable. This Blackberry came with a stockpile of corporate data all there for anyone to read as soon as the device was turned on. Many employees are insufficiently trained concerning security issues for the electronic devices they use on a daily basis.
Company data is stored as attachments on a server, rather than the Blackberry itself, so if a device is ever lost or misplaced someone could easily read sensitive documents. The Blackberry lacks encryption capabilities and relies instead on users locking the device with a password. Unfortunately, anyone with hacking abilities could discover the password and let themselves into the network.
The beauty of the Blackberry is that it’s a do it yourself type of device. It basically allows you to take your office with you wherever you go and not be caught unprepared or without the correct documents of a given meeting. However, for individuals and companies who handle and funnel much of their business dealings through these wonderfully useful devices,both internal and external server security must be taken into account.
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Rebecca Welch is a successful Webmaster and publisher of BestCameraCellPhone.com. She provides researched information on camera cell phones and other mobile communication devices.
December 1, 2007
A clamshell cell phone with charm.
After the Chocolate of LG or L’Amour collection of Nokia, it is Sony Ericsson turn to target the women with its Z610. Design is an essential component of a cell phone for a commercial success. Sony well understood that too.
Indeed, cell phone maker Sony Ericsson is about to release a brand new 3G cell phone. Sony Ericsson Z610 (94.5 x 49 x 20 mm and 110 g) is a clamshell with original look. Despite its really good performance, the device well counts on its design and particularly its reflective exterior surface to seduce the consumers.
The cell phone has a hidden screen, which can only be visible when the device is in use. This screen switch on when an incoming call or message is received.
Cell phone Z610 also integrates a 2 megapixel camera, with 2,5x zoom. Capacities of the device are enhanced by a 2′ (176×220 pixels, 262k colors) internal display. Videos can be recorded in QCIF resolution.
Cell phone Z610 is sold with a 64 Mo memory card (up to 1Go). The internal memory is only 16 MB. The cell phone user can then store his images, his videos and his audio recordings in MP3 or AAC formats. The cell phone integrates a push messaging system. The cell phone is tri-band with UMTS 2100, Bluetooth and USB 2.0.
Software Picture Blog is still present, which allows to directly sending our snapshots to a photoblog. And the phone also supports RSS feed that deliver the latest news updates.
Of course, you also have a real Web browser, some 3D games, Java support, possibility to listen to music in MP3, AAC or AAC+ formats. And you can customize it with polyphonic (72 channels), MP3 or AAC ringtones.
Cell phone Sony Ericsson Z610 comes in luster black (OK for men), rose pink and airy blue color variants.
Find more about cell phone Sony Ericsson Z610 ringtones at Ringtone Jam Jam.
October 30, 2007
Cell Phone Contracts In General
A cell phone contract is an agreement between the buyer and the wireless service provider. Usually it is of 1 or 2 years of duration, during which a consumer is legally bound to remain with the wireless service provider. A pre-paid contract does not need a contract term but then discounts are also not offered. Cell phone contracts specify the service plan that the consumer has opted in for.
The Top Names In Cell Phone Contracts
Cingular and T-Mobile plans let the subscriber roam the world with the same phone for a fee. National plans give the facility of roaming within the nation, from state to state without any extra charges. Some carriers also include Canada in their coverage areas besides the local area. Regional plans are valid only for tri-state areas and they give more talk time and save money. How to Simplify Billing for Your Household Family plans allow splitting minutes between two or more lines thereby becoming a popular plan in households, where cell phones are replacing landlines.
Cell Phone Trials And Discounts
Carriers generally give a trial period before enforcing the contract term. Almost all carriers give at least 14 days whereas Cingular gives 30 days of trial period. A 1-year cell phone contract has a shorter commitment period, which may prove to be beneficial if the phone needs repairs, or is lost. In addition, since the period is short, one may avail of new discounts that come up with their new contract. After the term of 1-year ends, the phone can be kept without any contract and no penalty is charged for not renewing. However, in a 1-year contract, the activation fee and/or the phone may not be cheap. Certain discounts and promotional offers cannot be availed of as in a 2-year period.
Watch For Activation Fees In Cell Phone Contracts
In a 2-year cell phone contract, the activation fee and/or the phone may not be expensive. Huge discounts on the phone may be availed. Special promotions may be availed. However, the phone is kept for a longer duration and hence, more money may be spent on repairing, insuring, or replacing. The opportunity to buy a new phone reduces, and thus may not be eligible to switch carriers. It is always advisable to read the fine print on the contract form. Expensive phones may also opt for phone replacement insurance plans; however, due to the costs of such plans, few subscribe to these plans.
Pre Paid Gets Rid Of Cell Phone Contracts
Pre-Paid or No Contract phones are not available with all cell phone companies. They are attractive as they require no commitment, you can get them even if you have bad credit, and there is no penalty whatsoever for switching companies or stopping the use of your cell phone. However, call charges may be more expensive, and no promotional discounts etc., may be availed of.
Penalties Included In Cell Phone Contracts
After the trial period of 14 or 30 days is over, when the phone is bought, the penalty for breaking the contract can range from $150 to $600, depending on where the phone was bought. Before the contract finishes, if a new phone is to be bought, then some companies give a customer loyalty discount, which in effect extends the contract. This may prove to be expensive when compared to buying a new phone with a good discount. Cell phones generally last for 19 months and phone batteries for a year.
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Ian D. Major is the editor of Cell Phone Search
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This weeks Special Article is all aboutCheap Cell Phones and where to get them.
October 29, 2007
However, it is most likely that your GSM phone will not work overseas. Even if you have a GSM phone, it is likely that the version that you have is different from the one used overseas. Most cellular providers will rent you a phone, compatible to the frequencies used overseas. You will need to look around for the best deal in renting, that is available in the market today. For information regarding renting, visit www.planetomni.com/RENT_INFO.shtml for more details regarding the prices of renting a quad or tri-band GSM handset.
Now that you have a phone, the next is the SIM card. SIM Cards are available for all major countries in the world, and for global roaming as well. These SIM cards are prepaid, where you do not need to enter into any contract with the service provider. This prepaid SIM card will save you atleast 80% of your communication cost. All the out-going calls are charged at local rates, with free incoming calls. These cards are available with airtime credits included and are available in different denominations. The price of such a card includes the set up fee for the SIM card, which is a fixed amount, and includes the basic price of the airtime credit along-with. You have the option in buying more airtime credits along-with the card. As you use up your credit limit, you may use re-charge vouchers of varied amounts to top up your airtime credits. These credits are available in terms of the value that you have put in and not as unit of calls or time. With such a prepaid country specific SIM card, you have a lower expense for your international calls, as you do not pay for any roaming charges.
To sum up the prepaid country specific and global roaming SIM cards, you generally get:
A credit for a starter airtime when you buy the card.
All incoming calls are free no matter where it generates from.
Lower rates for international calls.
No roaming charges on the calls that you make.
All outgoing calls are charged at local rates.
Free incoming SMS.
You get that country specific number.
Etc.
You need to bear in mind that anyone can use your prepaid SIM card. If you lose your phone with the SIM card inside, you will need to call up the customer service to de-activate your SIM card so that no one else can use it. In this situation, your SIM card cannot be replaced.
With the combination of an appropriate GSM phone and SIM card, you have a freedom to communicate anywhere and have a substantial saving as well. Though you will not be able to retain the number that you have at home, you may like to leave your new contact number in the voicemail, so that people trying to get in touch with you would know the number to get in touch with. The mobile phone that you wish to hire, will come to you with the necessary accessories like the battery charger. Most of the service providers will provide you with voicemail in your new mobile phone. If you are traveling to more than one country, you may change your country specific SIM card accordingly or better still, you may like to buy the international SIM card which will allow you to roam in most of the countries in the world, letting you have the same features or facilities as a country specific SIM card. Since your rented GSM mobile phone is given to you in an unlocked condition, you may use any SIM card that you like with that handset.
On your next visit overseas, rent a SIM card for country that you are visiting with your mobile. Rent a the mobile for which-ever country you are going to and you may purchase the SIM as well.
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Cell phone use overseas.
In 99% of the world the local cellular service standard is called GSM. We use this in the states as well. When combined with a SIM CARD (which usually goes under the battery of the phone) the phone is able to communicate and the SIM CARD also holds the telephone number and memory for pre-paid credit. Rates can be extremely low using this system. For example in 99% of all SIM CARDS incoming calls are free and calls to the states can cost a trifle. Such as, from the UK to the USA 7 cents/minute, from Israel 22 cents, from Australia 27 cents. Yes, USA Dollar cents! There are today even prepaid service providers in the USA offering rates of 10 cents per minute to call anywhere in the US to any type of phone. No contracts, no credit card checks, no bills. Pre-paid always means no minimums no contracts, no obligations. You only pay for the calls made. You’ll need an unlocked GSM tri-band or quadband UNLOCKED phone. You can buy factory unlocked phones and sim cards for more than 170 or the 193 countries on earth from http://www.planetomni.com Tel. # 800-514-2984
In order to understand, let us look into the GSM classifications very briefly.
Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), is a world leading standard, first adopted in Europe and then spread through Asia, Africa and Australia, New Zealand, etc. GSM coverage maps are available for nearly all courtiers. It is a digital technology and uses Time Division Multiplexing methods in communication. There are three categories of GSM phones that are available:
The dual band GSM phones operate on 900MHz or 1800MHz. These phones will not work with the service providers operating on 850MHz.
The tri-band phones have operating frequencies of 900MHz, 1800MHz and 1900MHz bands. These phones will work around the world including North America, but will not work in places where the service providers support only 850MHz.
The quad band phones, on the other hand, operates on 850MHz, 900MHz, 1800MHz, and 1900MHZ and therefore would work every where around the world with all the service providers.
Therefore, for your international travel, it is necessary that your GSM mobile is a quad band handset for it to work world-wide. Or else, it should atleast support tri-band frequency ranges. If you do not own such a phone, you can always rent one for your travel abroad. Please visit www.planetomni.com/RENT_INFO.shtml for more details.
A pre-paid SIM card activates your GSM mobile, without you having to enter into any contract with the service provider. It already has airtime credit included in it, when you purchase such a card. When you have reached the limit of your airtime credit, you may re-charge the card with re-charge vouchers, to extend your credit. The SIM card has a life expectancy of 6 months, after which a you need to purchase a new SIM card. With some service providers, this life expectancy of the SIM card can be increased indefinitely by keeping on recharging the card for your airtime credits.
With the pre-paid global SIM card, you get the benefit of having the same number, which you can carry through your journey in different parts of the world. On top of that, the calls that you receive are free of cost, no matter where it is generated from. You save on the charges that you would need to pay for roaming, which you have incurred, if you would take your usual mobile with you. Further, it is doubtful whether your phone would work in the countries you visit, if you do not have a quad band handset. In this scenario, imagine the charges that you would pay to call your business associates or your family at home, from your hotel room. A pre-paid global roaming SIM card has that much saving for you.
What do you generally get with your prepaid global roaming SIM card?
A starter airtime credit.
Free incoming calls.
All outgoing calls at local rate.
No roaming charge for international calls.
International roaming in over 100 countries.
A phone number which you can carry through any part of the world.
Free incoming SMS.
Voicemail.
There are no monthly or yearly charges and you don?t need to sign any contract.
For more information of how you can buy a prepaid global roaming SIM card, visit www.planetomni.com/FAQ_sim.shtml
The main fact behind taking a prepaid global SIM card on your next trip abroad is the ‘worry free’ factor, which limits your expenses, which is not the case as in the case of your post paid services. These SIM cards can be re-charged for new airtime credits when-ever you need it. There are many countries, where the service providers allow incoming calls even if you have used up all your airtime credits, which become an important feature with these prepaid SIM cards. Further advantage is that, you avoid the process of credit checks and monthly bills, which becomes an easier way to control your expenditure on the use of your mobile telephone.
A prepaid global SIM card is for those who is thinking of using his mobile overseas and do not want to pay the huge roaming charges by taking their GSM mobile along with them. Now, you can buy the SIM card before you leave home and also rent the GSM mobile that will work all over the world.
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Cell phone use overseas.
In 99% of the world the local cellular service standard is called GSM. We use this in the states as well. When combined with a SIM CARD (which usually goes under the battery of the phone) the phone is able to communicate and the SIM CARD also holds the telephone number and memory for pre-paid credit. Rates can be extremely low using this system. For example in 99% of all SIM CARDS incoming calls are free and calls to the states can cost a trifle. Such as, from the UK to the USA 7 cents/minute, from Israel 22 cents, from Australia 27 cents. Yes, USA Dollar cents! There are today even prepaid service providers in the USA offering rates of 10 cents per minute to call anywhere in the US to any type of phone. No contracts, no credit card checks, no bills. Pre-paid always means no minimums no contracts, no obligations. You only pay for the calls made. You’ll need an unlocked GSM tri-band or quadband UNLOCKED phone. You can buy factory unlocked phones and sim cards for more than 170 or the 193 countries on earth from http://www.planetomni.com Tel. # 800-514-2984
Sooner or later a friend, relative or stranger in need will have a medical emergency and you must summon someone who can help immediately. Every second is crucial in a life-threatening medical emergency. It?s a comforting thought to know that you can call 911 in the United States and Canada to get immediate help.
You need to be prepared for an emergency and being prepared to call 911 is no different. You must think ahead. Preparing for the day when you have to make that dreaded cell phone call is quick and easy.
Make sure you can pick up your cell phone immediately anywhere, anytime. You may lose precious seconds if it is in another room or you have to fumble around in all the stuff in your purse to find it. An attachable carrying case can be a lifesaver if you are outside watering your plants when an emergency happens.
Many medical emergencies happen in the middle of the night, especially with seniors. Consider putting your cell phone on the night stand beside your bed or somewhere close enough that you can hear and reach it immediately if someone calls and needs your help.
Make sure the cell phone is charged at all times. This may sound obvious but it needs to be part of a plan. Follow your phone manufacturer?s guidelines and make charging a part of your routine. Try charging your phone at a time when you can?t hear it anyway, like when you are in the shower, then check for important messages.
Most manufacturers offer chargers for your car that plug into the cigarette lighter. This can be a great alternative to charging your phone at home if you spend a great deal of time on the road or are on vacation.
Cell phones are particularly valuable for seniors and the disabled. If you care about the health of a loved one, make sure they carry a cell phone with them at all times. This is a true story: A woman aged 90 with a history of medical problems was living independently in her own home. Her daughter had bought her a cell phone and urged her to keep it with her at all times. One night at 3:00 a.m. the woman was making herself a snack and fell asleep in her chair. She fell to the floor and broke her hip. Dazed, in shock, in pain and unable to move she used her cell phone to call her daughter who immediately called 911. An ambulance took her to the hospital emergency room where the doctors performed surgery to repair her hip. Thanks to the daughter, a cell phone and an expert team of medical professionals the woman is able to walk again and lives in her own home.
If you can afford a cell phone, by all means get one. Most companies offer inexpensive plans. If you are not hi-tech oriented, cell phones are not difficult to use. Learn how to make and receive a call. That?s all you need to know in an emergency.
Copyright 2006 Candy Arnold
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Candy Arnold is an author and artist. Her career in catering and hospitality management spanned 30 years in hotels across the U.S. She draws on her own experiences to write ebooks and hard-copy books that help others. Candy now lives in the Tri-Cities, WA with her family.
For additional information on emergency preparedness visit:
http://www.accentshade.com/actnow/
October 26, 2007
Technology has grown manifolds in the recent years. It started from big phone with bunch of numbers on it to s device the size of box matches to it. The mobile phone industry has evolved to point where it can boost other industries like music and graphics. This is how realtones and mobile wallpapers became part of our lives.
Mobile phones have become necessity like clothes and if you don?t have cell phone that means you are living in the Stone Age. Mobile phone has proved its necessity and attractiveness and the mobile phone industry knows no boundaries with new mobile phone with better features coming each month. The size of mobile phone has decreased whereby its technical characteristics have increased. The cell phone has reached point where it can be said as small computer.
The old fashioned music player has been replaced by realtones and pictures have been replaced by mobile wallpapers. realtone is piece of music reproduced in the same way as it would have been by mp3 few years ago. The realtone has evolved from mono ringtone. This type of ringtone represents lot of music notes played on only one channel. This is how the first cell phone rang. After that the sound was being played on two channels and four channels and thereafter sixteen. This way polyphonic ringtones became popular.
A realtone could be piece of your favorite melody or the voice of someone you appreciate. It is not necessary that realtone is part of song but it could be full song if your mobile phone allows as such. Many mobile phones have lot of memory so that you can enjoy more than one realtones. realtone is basically song in mp3 format which you can use however you want.
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This content is provided by Radoslav Opalchenov. It may be used only in its entirety with all links included. For more information on ringtones, please visit Rudixword’s Free Ringtones
Motorola mobile phones are considered to be second best after Nokia handsets. Motorola mobile phones are steadily expanding their business and are all set to rock the market in the coming years.
Motorola has come up with at least five different ring tone formats over the past four years. Today one can find number of outlets that offer Motorola Ring tones to the public.
Whatever your orientation - Western classical, Pop or religious, get into your own groove and enjoy! All the tunes can be played on most of the Motorola mobiles. There are three types of Motorola ring tones ?
? Polyphonic ring tones: Polyphonic ring tone can play around 40 notes or more. The quality of polyphonic ring tones is getting better all the time due to continuous improvement in mobile audio technology. Today mostly all the manufacturers produce handset that have polyphonic ring tone. Polyphonic ring tones are better than Monophonic ring tones however they sound weak when compared to Mp3 quality.
A Polyphonic ring tone can be downloaded using an MMS or WAP service.
? Monophonic ring tones: Monophonic ring tone is basically one note ringer. They are basically simple tunes compatible with modern day phones. Most monophonic ring tones are offered free of charge as more full bodied tones are available today. Initially cell phones were only capable of playing monophonic ring tones.
To download Monophonic ring tone on your mobile phone always note that your cell phone account should be internet enabled. You can also download Monophonic ring tones using an SMS service.
? True tones Ring tones: True tones have real sounds which sounds great on your mobile phone. No matter it is Pop tone or classical tone, true tone ring tones deliver the best.
What to keep in mind at the time of downloading Motorola Ring tones
Internet downloads take more time ? up to several minutes. Make sure your connection is enabled and your location is good for the download.
Motorola ring tones can be found under various names: melodies, ringer tones, tunes or rings or even ringing tones.
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This content is provided by Radoslav Opalchenov. It may be used only in its entirety with all links included. For more information on ringtones, please visit Rudixword’s Free Ringtones
Each year marks growth in the mobile ringtone industry that has ultimately taken up the music business.
Ringtone industry used to be passing craze but now it accounts to more than 10% of the global music market and has overtaken the CD business earlier than what it was expected. No one would have ever thought that monophonic ringtones of the 90?s will turn into million dollar business till the beginning of 20?s.
Music business is not able to ignore the ringtone market that has embraced its future and influence on the present youth culture. The hip hop industry makes more than half of the downloaded ringtones. Many successful music artists now accept the fact that ringtone is no more niche product. The reason for this success is the creation or full customization of mobile phones with ringtones, wallpapers, screensavers, logos, picture messages and games. This is why there is huge demand by people for endless catalogs of music and themes for mono and polyphonic phones. Another reason for its increasing popularity is the media impact.
This popularity could have continued for some time but new advances in sound quality by use of mp3 and real music. There remains even more music markets to be explored as music loving Latin Americans shall provide the next big growth area.
With the increasing mobile culture where the youth has craze to download all the latest music ringtones in their mobile phone, the ringtone business shall grow with times but it shall depend upon the ability of the major mobile phone manufactures such as Nokia, Motorola, T- Mobile and others who combine the latest technology with wide range of compatibility that is increasingly important in this industry.
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This content is provided by Radoslav Opalchenov. It may be used only in its entirety with all links included. For more information on ringtones, please visit Rudixword’s Free Ringtones
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